Swollen optic nerve

[nervouswrwck1]

Son who is 12 had an eye test in July 24 at specsavers and was referred for a swollen optic nerve. His appointment at the hospital was today and he has been seen and has an OCT and other imaging. They now want him to have an MRI. I'm worried sick. Has anyone had any experience similar. He has no symptoms

Not children health but I had the same as an adult. Summer 2023!! My appointment is next month. Had the optician again last month and she said she would put in an urgent referral as ought to be seen in a month but they are taking two years to see the urgent ones.

i have symptoms now after about a year of no symptoms after optician spotted it.

google is terrifying as there are some very serious things that could be the cause. If it makes you feel better my optician said while brain tumour is on the list of causes to have one symptom free with brain pressure high enough to swell the optic nerve is unlikely. There is apparently a common birth defect that looks like swollen optic nerve on the optician pictures which would lead to refferals and mri to rule out bad stuff and could be normal for your child essentially. Was this the first time he had the back of his eye photographed? Is for it’s probably that so don’t panic.

as I said I have symptoms so my knowledge is based off this. Lots of things it could be like MS are unlikely to affect the optic nerve already in a child it’s more my age the scary stuff come into play. I was told it could be like a mini stroke in your optic nerve and a precursor to stroke in other brain areas get my blood pressure and cholesterol checked. Do they check these things in children? Again stroke very unlikely in a child.

i think you hold onto no symptoms yet and he’s young so all the scary stuff is very unlikely. It could just be a birth difference

I had the exact same, swollen optical nerve that was picked up at a sight test when I was 18. I did have migraines too so they were quite concerned. I had the MRI and they diagnosed optic nerve/disc drusen, a completely benign condition that just affects the appearance of the optical disc. I am pretty certain they told me it was commonly seen in children, and now 10 years later mine isn't visible anymore. I'm sure the result with your son will be something like this too! I worked in an opticians for a while and there were always other clinical indicators for brain tumours etc.

Did they do the puff of air test thing? It measures the pressure in the eye. If that was fine really don’t panic. As that would be an indication of high Previn the brain being the cause. Also just one optic nerve swollen or both? One then there likely is something happening (not necessarily serious!) both then points to the birth defect or high pressure in the brain but the you would have high pressure in the air puff test.

but I’m not medically trained! I’m just a stranger in the internet who has done a bit of Googling and research around my own symptoms which I’ve had multiple of in many areas. I’m only answering as I know how it feels to be waiting on appointments and refferals and worried I wouldn’t take medical advice off the internet personally just use it for the personal stories and relatability. Ultimately you have the refferal and just have to wait, it’s likely nothing. If he gets symptoms go to A&E because my urgent referral WITH symptoms has been over a year wait, if my symptoms lasted long enough I’d be sure they would be present after the wait in A&E I’d go myself but they last minutes only. For kids it’s different you will probably get seen not sent home to wait on the refferal

Thanks for replying. This isn't his first eye test he last one was just before covid, so presumably they would have took a photo of his eye then and nothing was shown.
Specsavers said one eye, but I thought I heard the doctor talking to the other doctor saying it looked like it was both, but one was worse. He did have the pressure tested in his eyes and she said that was OK

I've just read up a little more about presentation for optic disc drusen. It is a build up over time so might not have been seen on his last photos, it actually says it's usually seen in children over 10 so that makes sense too. I've also just checked my last retinal photos and I can definitely see my drusen still so not sure why I thought it wasn't visible now, must have been something else and I'm getting confused.

Speedybullettrain I did read up on drusen and thought it could possibly be that. But there was no mention of that today. They both looked and said it didn't look right and as a precaution wanted him to have an MRI. So now I'm not sure about drusen...

They tend to do lots of tests and very quickly when it comes to eye stuff. Mainly I think because all the structures are very small and small changes can be caused by lots of different things. Most of which are completely harmless.

I have a load of crap wrong with my eyes, the right one is basically just there to fill a whole at this point. Since I was 4 I have been referred back and forth from opticians to the hospital at the drop of a hat. Must have had at least a dozen urgent referrals, have had every type of eye test, scan, MRI, electrodes all over my head and faces dye injected for contrast imaging, surgery. You name Tim they’ve tested it. Most of the stuff they have suspected has proven to not be the case, but they have to rule them out.

On the topic of the MRI specifically though, it is worth prepping your son a little. It’s not in any way painful but it is loud, can take about 20 mins and the space is confined so it can feel discomforting. He also needs to make sure he has no metal on him, so if he’s going through any kind of nail polish, studded jewellery, piercing or eyeliner phases, he’ll need to go metal free that day.

things they have suspected and then not found for me include but are not limited to:
Brain tumour
Morning Glory Syndrome
Optic Neuritis
Blood clot/aneurysm

Actual eye problems I do have
Coloboma of Optic Disc
Coloboma of retina
Serous Macula Detachment - now fixed following reattachment surgery
Astigmatism
Very short sighted

Hi OP,
Yes my daughter has been diagnosed with a swollen optic nerve at 14, then again at 23. She also has a history of migraines so an MRI was ordered. It was clear. I hope this helps! Good luck!

Thank you. I'm a bit more rational today. They looked at scans and I'm holding on to the fact that if they thought it was potentially serious they wouldn't be making him wait up to 4 weeks for an MRI..

Hi - I know it’s been a few months since you posted. My son is in the same position and I was wondering what your outcome was? Really worried and trying not to catastrophise, he has had headaches with vomiting though and that’s why we took him to the optimisitrist initially as thought he might need glasses. Hope everything worked out ok for your son.